Cheese boss Richard launches into rugby tackle to stop suspect

Richard Kenyon at the Dewlay cheese shop

Cheese company boss Richard Kenyon, who caught a suspected burglar whilst on a Lake District weekend break with his family, said this week: “I’ve only done what most people would have done if put in a similar position.”

Garstang police paid tribute to Richard’s bravery saying: “We would like to say a big thank you (on behalf of Cumbria Constabulary and Newcastle Police) to Richard.”

It turned out the the suspect was also being sought by Newcastle police. Garstang police added:”Great work by Richard, although we obviously have to point out that you should always be mindful of your own safety in such circumstances!”

Richard, 33, who is a boss at the family’s Dewlay cheese business off the A6 at Garstang, first learnt his rugby skills as a pupil at Stonyhurst College, where he was in the first team. He now plays for Lancashire, as well as Fylde, and said: “We train twice a week and obviously we do weight training and fitness training.”

He recalled the early morning drama during which he chased the man along the old Keswick to Penrith railway line. He said his wife was feeding their baby at 6.30am, heard a noise and pulled back the curtains to disturb a man at the boot of their car. She banged on the window and the man ran away: “I jumped out of bed still in my pyjamas and T-shirt and ran out of the caravan in hot pursuit.”

The Range Rover Sport vehicle was parked outside his in-laws’ static caravan, where the family - Richard, wife Johanna, and children Will,two and Charlie, eight months, were enjoying a weekend break. Richard accepts that the man he chased could well be thinking that it hard cheese that his chaser was so fit: “With the majority of the residents being elderly he could regard himself as being slightly unlucky that the car was owned by a 6ft 3ins rugby player! I rugby tackled him to the ground with reasonable force - I didn’t physically hurt him. I restrained him and I then basically frogmarched him back to the site and called the police.”